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Which is the oldest game in the world?

          The game of polo is considered the oldest game in the world. It was played in Persia (modern Iran) during the 1st century A.D. Some scholars even claim that it was invented by the Persians around 2000 B.C. However, Iran is generally regarded as its originator. From Iran it was carried to Arabia and from there to Tibet. In Tibet, it was called ‘Pulu’. In fact, the word ‘polo’ has been derived from ‘pulu’ which means ‘ball’.

          In India polo was introduced by the Mohammedan conquerors in the 13th century. From here it was taken to England in 1860. Nowadays, it is played not only in India but also in Argentina, England, USA, and some other countries of the world. The earliest polo club of modern times was the ‘Cachar Club’ in Assam.

          Polo is played with a stick and a ball on horseback. The polo stick is called a ‘mallet’. It is an outdoor game. Its grass-field is 274.32 metres long and 146.3 metres wide. There are lightweight goal posts, 7.3 metres apart at each end. A goal is scored by hitting the ball through these goal posts. Two teams, each having four players play, the game. To be good at this game one has to be an expert horse-rider.

          Polo is played in six, seven or eight rounds. These are called ‘chukkers’. The duration of one chukker is 7.5 minutes. After every chukker there is a break.

          Polo is an expensive game and only the rich can afford it. Perhaps that’s why it is called the game of the princes.

          The first game of elephant polo was played at Jaipur in 1976 which was watched by about 40,000 spectators. In 1978, a camel polo was played at the same venue. Now, people have started playing even cycle polo. The world’s biggest trophy for polo is the Bangalore Limited Handicap Polo Tournament Trophy. It is a cup six feet in height.

Who is called the Black Pearl?

Football is one of the most popular games in the world; the best football player may logically be regarded as the most celebrated one. Pele has been one of the best football players of the world. According to a French newspaper, Pele, in an informal poll, was voted to be the best player of the century.

Pele was born in a poor family on October 23, 1940 in Brazil. His full name is Edson Arantes Do Nascimento. But people affectionately call him Pele. He is a Negro and thus has earned the name of Black Pearl of football. He is also called ‘King’ of football. Because of his poverty he had to drop out from school in the fourth class. He used to play soccer barefooted with a football made from cotton cloth. Once even he stole peanuts from a goods train to buy a leather football. Later he took up a job with a cobbler on a meagre salary.

At an early age of 11, he came in contact with the famous football instructor Waldimar Do Brito. Under his coaching Pele became an ace football player. When he was only 18, he became a member of the Brazilian Football Team and participated in the world football competition. Because of his skillful play Brazil became world champion in football. Subsequently he took part in the world football competition of 1962, 1966 & 1970.

Wearing the number 10 shirt, that was to become his trade mark, Pele scored 1216 goals in 1254 matches between 7th September 1956 to 2nd October 1974 – a world record for a single soccer player.

Pele has become a legend in his lifetime. Even today he receives more than 300 letters every week, most of which carry just the two-word address, “Pele, Brazil”. Now he has retired from football and established a football academy to train the budding footballers of his country.

Football has enabled Pele to earn a big fortune, but for him the most precious possession is a letter written to him by a blind boy from Columbia. The letter reads: “I have not been able to see any of the thousand goals scored by you. But after I heard that you had scored 999 goals, I constantly prayed to God to enable you to score the 1000th goal”. Pele says that he wept like a child after reading this letter.

 

Why Dhyan Chand was called the Hockey Wizard?

Dhyan Chand is most prominent hockey player that India has ever produced. He was called the Hockey Wizard. Whenever he entered the field he always stole the limelight. His game had an electric swiftness in it. Seeing his swift moves and the constant movement of the ball with his stick, the Germans even once suspected that Dhyan Chand’s hockey stick had some magnet in it. The stick was broken and nothing of that sort was found in it. He resumed the play with another stick and went on scoring goals, one after another.

Dhyan Chand was born on 29th August 1905 at Allahabad. He pursued his studies there in a higher secondary school. To support his family, Dhyan Chand joined the Brahmin Regiment of the Indian army as a sepoy. Nobody knows when he developed a liking for hockey. But somehow he was so much infatuated with the game that he started devoting his entire spare time to it. There were no official facilities for training the hockey players during those days. Dhyan Chand had to learn it all on his own.

Dhyan Chand, a player of the Infantry Regiment, was included as a member in the Indian team that visited New Zealand in 1926. India earned the first gold medal in hockey in the Olympic Games played at Amsterdam (Holland) in 1928. Dhyan Chand was a member of this winning team. When the final match was about to be played between India and Holland on 26th May, Dhyan Chand was running very high fever. But as a valiant soldier, he did not shirk his duty. He entered the field like a lion and helped India to register a 3-0 victory by personally scoring two magnificent goals.

In the Olympic hockey in 1932, India earned the gold medal after playing only two matches. In one of these matches India defeated America by 24 goals to 1 which is still an Olympic record. Dhyan Chand alone scored 8 of the 24 goals. In 1935, India played 48 matches against Australia and New Zealand. In these matches Dhyan Chand alone contributed 200 goals out of a total of 584 scored by India. When told of this feat, the great cricket player Donald Bradman remarked: “It appears that the Indian hockey players score goals like cricket runs”.

India once again won the gold medal in the 1936 Olympic hockey and out of the total of 38 goals scored by India, 11 goals were scored by Dhyan Chand alone.

In recognition, the then British government of India promoted him from the rank of a sepoy to that of a naik. When the German dictator Hitler heard of this, he shook hands with Dhyan Chand and told him, “Had you been a resident of my country, I would have made you a Colonel”.

In 1947, when India won freedom, Dhyan Chand was promoted as a Major and was awarded the coveted ‘Padma Bhushan’ in recognition of his services to hockey. On 3 December 1979 this great player of hockey breathed his last.

 

What is Sumo wrestling?

          The people of Japan always keep a keen interest in their old customs and traditions. The case of Japanese sport lovers is no exception. Traditional games of the past awaken their curiosity and enthusiasm. Every traditional sport in Japan has been ritualized. Participants mostly follow a strict code which results in quality and artistic performance of the games.

          Sumo is one such traditional style of wrestling which is still popular in Japan. It is believed that the sport originated in Japan in the 1st century B.C. This game finds a mention in many Japanese literatures. Originally the objective of the game was to kill the opponent or force him to surrender. But the killing part of the game was eliminated from the rules in the 8th century A.D.

          The game, in fact, has been professionally practiced in Japan since the 16th century A.D. Modern sumo wrestlers are stoutly built with well-developed muscles. They are trained by a master wrestler in a traditional training school.

          A sumo match takes place in a small circular sand-covered area which is slightly over 15 feet in diameter. The heavily built wrestlers, wearing only elaborate belts and loin clothes grapple each other, making sudden forward movements of their body.

          One wrestler tries to force his opponent either to step out of the ring or touch the ground with some part of his body other than the soles of his feet.

          The contest seldom lasts for more than two minutes. The contestants devote about six minutes to some proceedings before the game that include the rituals of squatting up, scattering purified salt etc. The wrestlers approach each other several times only to be waved back by a gesture of the referee who is generally bearded and clad in a tinted robe, wearing an ancient court hat. The wrestlers fight barefoot and their hairs are long and tied up in a traditional knot. The more the weight of the wrestler, the better the advantages for him in the competition. Weight is amassed by over-eating with a high protein stew called chankonabe.

          Kuramac Kokngikan arena of Tokyo is famous for sumo wrestling. Another interesting fact is that in 858 A.D., the two sons of the then emperor of Japan wrestled for the throne. These days it is attaining increasing popularity.

What are the Olympic Games?

               As you know, Olympic Games are played after every four years and almost all the countries of the world participate in them. The history of Olympic Games is very old. Although much information about them is not available, it is certain that the first Olympics were played in the year 776 B.C. at a place named Olympia in south-east Greece from where they take their name. The first Olympic Games were played for five days and were witnessed by many people of Greece.

             In the beginning, only the Greek players took part in these games. At that time, these games were treated as a religious festival. They were played as a mark of honour for Zeus, the chief god of the Greeks. Every player would worship at the temple of Zeus before taking part in the competition. The winner of game used to be given a branch of an olive tree which was planted in the courtyard of the temple. During those days, women did not participate in the games. So much so that they could not even see the games as spectators.

             The Olympic Games continued for almost 1100 years, but in the year 393 A.D. King Theodosius of Rome, put a ban on the Olympic Games after capturing Greece. This ban continued for 1465 years. After this, in 1859, Japas of Greece organized four Olympic Games in the years 1859, 1870, 1875 and 1989. But after his death, these games were again interrupted.

             A French teacher named Baron Pierre de Coubertin started the old Olympic Games once again in 1896. These games were played in Athens, the capital of Greece. 311 players hailing from 13 countries took part in them, 230 of them were from Greece alone.

 

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